File sharing between old 386 laptop and desk P.C.

[ToddM]

Hi Folks .....I've got an old Compaq 386 25mhz lap top{ and it still works } Anyway I was wondering if I could use it to share files with my desktop computer. The laptop is running DOS 5.0 and windows 3.1 and the desktop is running windows 2000 pro. Is it possible to use a serial to usb adapter and network them together or would I have to go serial to serial with something like laplink, or is there another alternative. Has anyone else got a setup like this or am I just trying to hang on to an antique machine and make it feel usefull again? Thanks and later....Todd

[gravitar]

if the old beast works for you, use it! First of all, there's the good old floppy disk. There can't be much on that old 386 that wouldn't fit onto a disk, is there? :) Failing that, I've used laplink in the past (still got the disks and cables somewhere!) and it would probably wouldn't be a bad way to go. From Win95 on up there is a program similar to laplink built in, but if you've just got DOS or Win 3.1 on there I don't believe there's anything bundled in. Another possibility would be to transfer files back and forth on a PCMCIA flash card.. You would need a flashcard reader for the desktop though. Other options would be parallel port hard drive, ZIP disk, etc..

[DanW]

USB to serial converters are designed to run with a USB driver. Drivers for the USB-232 devices I"ve used are only available for Win 98SE and up. My brother tells me that he ran 386 DOS boxes on ethernet, the kind with the coax cable (not CAT5) way back when. You might find a PCMCIA DOS ethernet adapter with drivers from someone who never throws things away. I had an IBM 486 laptop running Windows 3.x for Workgroups, which supported ethernet comm through a PCMCIA ethernet adapter with a CAT5 dongle. It was half of my first home network. I'm not even sure that 1994 era stuff even shows up on ebay though. Dan